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My Son Heads off to Boot Camp 10/10/17

randellirandelli Enthusiast
in General
One night together on the patio with some... interesting cigars!


Even though he has been on his own for the last 18 months I am going to miss him every day!
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  • jfreedyjfreedy Master
    edited October 2017
    Good luck! My dad actually cried when he drove me to the train to boot camp. However, for me, going through boot camp was one of those rights of passage that I wouldn’t trade for the world! It proved that I was tough,  and I truly believe more boys today need to know that about themselves in order to become the men they need to be. 
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  • mfresamfresa Master
    @jfreedy, Amen to that!!
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  • randellirandelli Enthusiast
    I am exciterified!
    It will be a good experience for him and on one hand I am a little jealous of what he will go through and the friendships he will form. On the other hand there is the practical understanding of the risks involved. Of course, he wants to go recon, if you're going to be a bear be a grizzly I guess.

    He is 21, almost 22, so he has some real world experience already. I expect he will do well in this environment. 
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  • randellirandelli Enthusiast
    To tie this into the pipe world...
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  • PappyJoePappyJoe Master
    Tell him good luck. Won't start any inter-service rivalry here but the Marines were my second choice.
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  • piperdavepiperdave Connoisseur
    OUTSTANDING! Another Marine brother coming into the fold, best of luck to him and Godspeed. Tell him to let that hair grow out because they will work even harder to shave off what little bit is there the night he arrives. When I got off the bus at Paris Island we had a guy who came in with a buzz and they still sat him in the chair and raked over his head with the clippers. You are right it will be a good experience and life changing.
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  • jfreedyjfreedy Master
    @randelli -- what the heck? Is that a Kaywoodie cigar holder? 
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  • randellirandelli Enthusiast
    @jfreedy it is! It was plugged up so I had to set it aside and pull out a different one.
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  • motie2motie2 Master
    A Prayer

    May He who blessed our ancestors
    bless the military of the United States of America
    who stand guard over us on land, on the sea, and in the air;
    who risk their lives defending our citizenry,
    men, women, and children,
    from an enemies who show no mercy,
    who seek to destroy us and our way of life.
     
    May God make our enemies who rise against us be struck down.
     
    May the Holy One, Blessed be He, protect and deliver our military
    from all trouble and distress, from all affliction and disease,
    and send blessing and success in all the works of their hands.
    And may there be fulfilled in them the verse:
    "for it is the Lord your God who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you" (Deut. 20:4).
     
    And may there be fulfilled through them the verse:
    "I will grant peace in the land,
    and you shall lie down, untroubled by anyone."
    And let us all say: Amen.

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  • randellirandelli Enthusiast
    Wow @motie2 that is beautiful! 
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  • CharlesCharles Master
    Good luck and welcome to the brotherhood. 
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  • KA9FFJKA9FFJ Master

    @randelli I'm an old jarhead from Viet Nam. Tell him to not volunteer for anything during boot camp. The ones who thought they were special and tried to prove themselves to the Drill Instructors, only crashed and burned. I kept my head low and did what they told me and low and behold, I would up being Guide of my platoon and received my dress blues free! Here's another secret. There will be 3 DI's in charge of his boot camp platoon. The 1st plays the role of the "good guy" (not really all that good). The 2nd plays the role of the "make your life miserable", and the 3rd plays the role of "sent from hell to make your life a living hell" (no one can do anything right for this guy). If he know that going in, it may help him cope with the situations he will encounter during boot...

    My prayers will be with him...  

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  • Londy3Londy3 Master
    Congratulations and thank you for serving our country!  Amen to the @motie2 prayer.  o:)
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  • PappyJoePappyJoe Master
    @KA9FFJ - That is good advice no matter what the service. And you're correct about the 3 DI's back in the 60s & early 70s (I have a cousin who did three tours as a DI in the Marines.) He always said the secret was to to know that no matter what was said, the DI's job is to make Marines and not to physically hurt a recruit bad enough for them to need medical attention.
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  • PhilosoPiperPhilosoPiper Connoisseur
    My family has a history of service in the Army & Marines, in fact I am one of the few who didn't serve. (I felt led to become clergy instead) I have a great deal of respect and admiration for our armed service men and women. I will be praying for your son. 
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  • pwkarchpwkarch Master
    @randelli
    Prayers up for your son, and ALL of our military. Just remind him ALL of the DI's were once where he will stand on the painted footprints upon his arrival. If at that time he does not feel some sense of "what did I do" he just has no feelings whatsoever. I STILL want to know how they train all of the DI's to have the same voice.

    Also remind him the first part of Boot Camp is the break the individual mindset of the recruits, the second half is to then turn them into a "team".
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  • pwkarchpwkarch Master
    @randelli
    Please keep us all informed of his progress (you won't hear from him for the first 2 or 3 weeks after the "phonecall". In a very special way he represents all of our sons.
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  • randellirandelli Enthusiast
    You all are great! Thanks for the encouragement and well wishes. We wrapped the parent session in Austin and are making our way to San Antonio to drop him at the hotel.  He has 2 other guys from his group that are also going in tomorrow so he will do fine.

    My wife will have to drive me home though... 
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  • ghostsofpompeiighostsofpompeii Master
    His health and safety is in my prayers. I thank him for his service to the Country. At a time when millionaire football players are taking a knee and disrespecting the flag and our country it's nice to see some members of the youth of America standing up to defend out country. 
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  • randellirandelli Enthusiast
    And so he is off after a busy day on the road. 13 weeks and he will be a Marine!
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  • buflosabbuflosab Master
    Good luck and thank you for service to your country.
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  • WoodsmanWoodsman Master
    I.m from an Army family, allow me to add my wishes for a Great Experience and safe return.
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  • CharlesCharles Master
    @KA9FFJ, good advice.  It was the same when I was at P.I. in 1980.  While I new what to expect in boot camp, because of being clued in by my uncles who were Marines, P.I. WAS AN EXPERIENCE I will never forget.  I am great full for all I learned from my D.I.so UT I would not want to go through that again.  You really correct about not volunteerinformation anything.  The D.I.s use to chew up the guys who volunteered for stuff.  Doing what you are told  and not standing out is wise.    
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  • motie2motie2 Master
    My late father, of blessed memory, told me of his introduction to military life during WWI. He said the important thing was to keep tight lipped and stick it out. 
    Being a wiseass, I told him that my experience was that if you stick it out, someone will cut it off.
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  • jfreedyjfreedy Master
    Army boot camp... same exact advice. Do your job, don't stand out. A guy in my unit did this so well that when his Drill Sergeant read off his name at graduation he did a double take... like he had never noticed this guy before today = Mission Accomplished!
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  • AnthonyAnthony Apprentice
    Thank you for your service!  God Bless and Keep You! You are in our Prayer's!  randelli, Thank you to you for raising, such an unselfish and fine young man, and we will be praying for you to!
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  • xDutchxxDutchx Master

    The ultimate sacrifice, being Gung-ho to stand behind your child, who has made the offer to lay down their life if need be.  These are the men, who have truly made this country great, make no mistake about it!

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  • AnthonyAnthony Apprentice
    Thank you for your service!  God Bless and Keep You! You are in our Prayer's!  randelli, Thank you to you for raising, such an unselfish and fine young man, and we will be praying for you to! 
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  • AnthonyAnthony Apprentice
    Thank you for your service!  God Bless and Keep You! You are in our Prayer's!  randelli, Thank you to you for raising, such an unselfish and fine young man, and we will be praying for you to! 
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  • randellirandelli Enthusiast
    30 more days!

    January 6 is the scheduled graduation date. We assume all is well - not many letters coming home but what we get sounds good. They made him a squad leader early on and they have not fired him as of his last letter which is kinda surprising. Not that he can't handle it; just that I hear it is pretty typical to be fired as part of the training.

    He turns 22 in 13 days and gets to spend Christmas in the gas chamber. How fun! 

    Most of the family is planning to go to the graduation... but he goes home with us :)

    For a little while at least.
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